Maybe your rent came due the same day as your car payment. That’s a double whammy. Or your girlfriend dumped you right after your lost your job. Ouch. Double whammy.

But what is a whammy? And why exactly does it come in pairs?

From the best we can tell, whammy came into use in the 1940s. It probably came from the rather dull wham (meaning a blow) made cute and fanciful with an –y ending. Back then, it was used to denote a hex or evil influence.

Whammy showed up frequently in sports coverage. For example, if your baseball team were losing, you might complain that someone put a whammy on you.

The term double whammy came into play a bit later. Its origins can be traced back to the Lil’ Abner comics by cartoonist Al Capp. A 1951 strip features Evil-Eye Fleegle, a zoot-suit-wearing native of Brooklyn. In the comic, Fleegle boasts that he can “putrefy citizens” just by giving them his evil eye.

One eye’s a single whammy. But if he stares at them with “th’ full power o’ both eyes,” well, according to Fleegle, that’s a double whammy, “which I hopes I never hafta use.” Look out.

Though its association with actual curses has since faded, the term double whammy still means bad things are afoot, and remains a useful expression to this day. Just hope you never have to use it.

So there’s your tidbit for today: a double whammy is a double-dose of misfortune.